by Hayes Farley
“Brady!” There was a growl in Lachlan’s voice as he stormed up the cabin. Kesha half-turned in her seat and shrank away like she wanted to be anywhere else. Brady stood there with his hands on his hips, still wearing his sunglasses. He backed up a step when Lachlan got in his space.
“I’ll not have anyone on my team speak with such disrespect,” Lachlan said. He craned his neck to hold eye contact. He looked like a basketball coach yelling at one of his players. “Apologize at once.”
“You serious?” Brady said.
Lachlan fought the urge to yell. When he spoke again, it was in his usual calm voice. “Brady, if you do not apologize, your participation in this mission is over; you will not go with us to the piers. Instead, you will stay here and you will call President Joyce and you will explain to him why you are being punished. I would not expect that call to go well. More than likely you will be cut from the Greyjeans. And if that happens, I assure you that your dream of becoming a Palkin will forever remain just that: a dream.”
Brady removed his sunglasses and looked away. Other than a few background noises from the game’s start screen, the cabin was silent. Alex noticed that Kim was standing in the aisle.
“Sorry,” Brady said.
Lachlan shook his head. “I could barely hear you. And remember to whom you’re apologizing.”
Brady’s jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. He took a breath and gathered himself. He turned toward the sofa. “I’m sorry, Professor Sonnier.”
Sonnier tilted his book ever so slightly. “It’s forgotten.”
Alex braced for another smart comment from Brady about Sonnier’s age. Thankfully, he showed restraint.
“Let’s go,” Lachlan said. Alex nodded and followed. By the time they were buckled, Kim was hanging over her seatback again.
“Daaaamn, Lachlan,” Kim said. “Remind me to never get on your bad side.”
Lachlan leaned back and closed his eyes. “I hate yelling.”
“You sounded like Batman,” she said.
Lachlan almost smiled.
“Why is he even on the team?” Kim said. “What were they thinking?”
Lachlan was slow to answer. “They were thinking that it’s hard to ignore his talent. You do realize he’s more gifted than either of us?”
Kim shook her head. “I guess…but he’s such a smartass. No one will ever want to work with him if he ever does become a Palkin. He’ll just piss everybody off.”
“And that’s the problem,” Lachlan said. “You asked why they put Brady on this team. I think there are a couple of reasons. First, they want to see how I do handling someone who’s disrespectful, someone who’s impulsive. They’re testing me. That’s probably why Sonnier didn’t stand up and smack him in the face back there. He was waiting to see how I’d handle it. Second, they want to see how Brady responds to being around someone more powerful than himself.” He looked at Alex. “That would be you.”
“He barely talks to Alex.”
“Exactly,” Lachlan said. “It can be a humbling experience being around someone better than you. He needs a dose of humility.”
“Pffff. Good luck with that,” Kim said. “Personally, I think the kid’s a lost cause.” She turned around and disappeared from view.
****
They exited the plane with bags in hand. A black SUV waited on the tarmac. Lachlan grabbed the keys off the front seat and opened the power liftgate to reveal two huge duffel bags and six bulletproof vests. “Everyone come and suit up,” he called.
Kim and Kesha groaned. “Now? But they’re so uncomfortable,” Kim said.
Alex snapped his buckles into place. “They’re not so bad.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t have boobs,” Kim said.
“You two can put them on later,” Lachlan said. He closed the liftgate and went to the driver’s seat. “Remember, Alex is up here with me. Kim and Professor Sonnier are in the second row. Kesha and Brady in the back.”
They reached the guard house at the Blount Island Ports after an hour of travel. Lachlan stopped at the gate and rolled down the window. Alex readied all the necessary documents, flipping through them one more time to make sure everything was in order.
An overweight guard wearing thick glasses stepped into view. He hooked his thumbs in his belt and eyed their SUV. There were pit stains on his white shirt. He gave his hat a tug and then sauntered up to the driver’s seat and leaned inside. His eyes widened and his mouth opened. “You guys are just kids!”
“I’ve got the required paperwork,” Lachlan said. He grabbed the documents from Alex and offered them to the guard.
The guard’s head hung there stupidly, so bovine in its features that if he were chewing gum it would’ve been mistaken for cud. Alex noticed the logo on his hat and figured it was supposed to be a cargo ship. “Paperwork? Oh, I don’t need any of that,” the guard said.
“Sir?”
The guard smiled and reached his hand behind his back and withdrew his own stack of papers. The edges were curled like an old magazine. He smoothed it out on the window sill and started reading the first page. “Sorry, it was on my boss’s desk…I had to read through it when I saw it was from Langley.”
Lachlan’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel.
“Are you guys like spies in training or something?” the guard said.
“Oh, uh…”
“Are you even allowed to tell me?”
“Uh…”
“I understand if you can’t say anything.”
“You ever seen the Jason Bourne movies?” Brady called.
“Huh?” The guard cocked his head and looked toward the back seat.
Brady propped his elbows on the second row and leaned forward. “I asked if you’ve ever seen the Jason Bourne movies.”
“Oh. Well, yeah.”
“James Bond?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen those, too.”
Brady slowly put on his sunglasses. “They’re both pussies.”
“Ha!” The guard laughed and a piece of spittle flew from his lip and landed on Lachlan’s arm. Lachlan pretended like he didn’t notice, but the guard was embarrassed. “Oh, uh, well, I won’t hold you guys up any longer; I’m sure you’re probably on a tight schedule. You’re good to go at Pier 25. Good luck with your stakeout.” He stepped away from the SUV and smiled awkwardly.
“Thank you,” Lachlan said. He rolled up the window and eased away from the guard house.
“A stakeout, huh? Well played, Mr. President,” Brady said.
“He even told them the wrong pier,” Kim said.
Lachlan didn’t say anything. He woke the steering wheel’s touchscreen and zoomed in on the map. He kept the SUV in manual.
Sonnier reached over the seat and placed his hand on Lachlan’s shoulder. “Sorry you were caught off guard back there. Joyce has a habit of taking things into his own hands, even when he doesn’t have to.”
They reached their destination a few miles later. Lachlan parked between two red shipping containers. They were in the storage area, about three hundred yards from Pier 42.
“Looks exactly like the satellite images,” Alex said. He studied the container to his right. It was roughly twice the size of their SUV. Its corners had been eaten away by rust.
“Then we’re in the right spot,” Lachlan said. He lowered his seatback and motioned for Alex to do the same. “Get comfortable; we’re here for a while.”
26
Deliverance
Alex could just make out the crane shimmering in the distance, a tower and jib of zigzagging girders and beams blue as the sky, its scale so immense and its movement so slow that the thing seemed almost alien in nature, its yellow claw unwavering as it scooped up logs as easily as someone might grab a handful of pencils.
This is like watching paint dry.
Alex read the text message and smiled. He set his phone to silent and swiped a response: Then why are we stil
l awake?
Good question. I’d blame it on Sonnier’s snoring, but it doesn’t look like it’s bothering anyone else. Did you check out the two in the back?
Alex looked in the rearview. Both Kesha and Brady were sound asleep, her cheek on his shoulder, his cheek on her head. Cute.
Kim sent a turd emoji.
LOL.
You got any more snacks up there?
Alex leaned forward and rummaged through the grocery bag between his feet. It was filled with mostly wrappers and crumbs. He grabbed the only thing left that was edible and handed it to Kim. She sneered. Alex shrugged and turned around.
What happened to the candy bars???
Gone.
All of them?
All of them. Alex heard her open the bag of trail mix and shake its contents.
There’s only nuts in here.
It’s heart healthy.
It’s bird food. I like the kind with chocolate.
:(
Thanks, Bort. She popped a handful.
You mind chewing with your mouth closed? Peanut breath is the worst.
Kim leaned forward and swatted Alex. Lachlan stirred.
I stand corrected. A smack in the back of the head is worse than peanut breath. He heard her snicker.
I need something to drink.
Eggnog?
She smacked him again. It looks hot outside. What’s the temperature?
Alex checked the car’s display. 90.
Ugh.
It’ll be a lot cooler by the time we go out there.
Yeah, but that’s sooooo long from now. Hey, you have any boring books on your tablet?
No, nothing boring. Why?
Cause I wanna fall asleep.
Nice. Hang on a sec. Alex started flipping through his books. They were arranged alphabetically by title. It didn’t take him long to find a winner. He opened it and skipped to a passage he knew almost by heart and passed it to Kim. He indicated to start on that page.
I thought you didn’t have anything boring?
I don’t. But that one’s pretty dense. Should do the trick. He looked in the rearview and watched her go from the phone to the tablet. A minute later and she was back to the phone.
WTF I need a dictionary!
Yup. Just gloss over whatever you don’t know.
That’s every other word!!
Just keep reading. It’s really violent. Lots of scalping and killing. You’ll like it.
Her face hovered over the tablet and just as quickly she went right back to her phone. Where are they?
Mexico. Texas. Mostly desert.
Well, why doesn’t he just say that?!
Alex laughed. Because he’s trying to paint a picture. Think of it as…poetry.
I got your poetry. Another turd.
Alex looked in the mirror a few minutes later. Kim was asleep, her head propped against the window. He turned and grabbed his tablet from the floorboard, the book still open to the same page. He started reading.
****
They moved shortly before midnight, clouds hanging heavy and grey across the sky. The humidity in the air had condensed into a light mist that left a sheet of moisture on the windshield, thousands of tiny beads each perched neatly on the glass, their arrangement only disrupted when one merged with its neighbors, becoming so gorged that it would wobble off its seat and go sliding into the abyss, always dragging along a swath of bystanders.
Lachlan kept the headlights off and navigated the SUV through the maze of shipping containers using only the heads-up display. No one spoke or moved, as if the slightest sound from the cabin would awaken something monstrous and terrible lurking in the darkness.
A little farther and light started spilling across the tops of the containers. Farther still and it filled the SUV. Alex made like he was cracking his back but really he just wanted to glance at his teammates. Everyone was awake. He caught Sonnier’s eye and the professor acknowledged him and went back to chewing his gum.
Lachlan turned left and suddenly Alex was staring not at the ridged surface of a shipping container, but at the bright white lights on the underside of the tower crane. Lachlan took another quick left and then parked, the SUV now facing away from the crane and the ship and the logs. He unlocked the doors and stepped outside without a word. The rest followed suit. They stood at the edge of a clearing the size of a football field. If they were on the fifty-yard line, the crane and the logs were in the end zone.
“Look at the size of that thing,” Brady said.
Whether he was referring to the crane or the pile of logs, Alex agreed. He felt childlike out here, a toddler transplanted into a very real and very grownup world. He looked up at that yellow claw, its prongs open and talon-like. It had been busy; only a few logs remained on the deck. The rest now lay one on top of the other in a great wall extending the length of the loading zone, the freshly cut ends painted red so it was not unlike staring at a colossal stack of matchsticks, or maybe some primitive and bloodied fortification protecting the ship beyond.
The six of them stood abreast facing the ship. All wore their vests. Lachlan turned to Alex. “Let’s get started.”
Alex produced a laser pointer and closed one eye and straightened his arm and flashed the ship’s bridge three times. Seconds later, three red blinks appeared beyond the glass.
They stood there for what seemed an inordinate amount of time, everything quiet save for the gentle sound of water lapping against the pier. Kim started fidgeting. “What’s taking this guy so long?”
“Must’ve had to drop a log.” Brady bit his lower lip as he looked for a reaction. Kesha was the only one to laugh. A solitary figure emerged, waddling into view from the corner of the log wall, the reflective material on his coat shiny under the white lights of the crane.
“Looks like a penguin,” Kim said.
“Yeah, I expected this guy to be a little more…fit,” Brady said.
Alex cut his eyes at Lachlan. He was flipping through some screens on his tablet, his brow furrowed into a look of urgency. “Something’s wrong,” Lachlan said. “That’s not Cooper.”
“No, no it’s not,” Sonnier said. His expression changed. He looked alert, engaged. He took a few steps forward and stopped chewing his gum. “Who goes there?” he called.
The man stopped and cocked his head and leaned in, squinting. “Frenchy? Is that you?”
Sonnier shook his head and smacked his gum again. “I’ll be damned,” he said. “Mills, don’t tell me that’s you out there!”
“Indeed it is.” The man doffed an imaginary hat and bowed. He waddled up to Sonnier and the two of them shook hands, grinning. They were of equal height and about the same age. “It’s good to see you again, old friend.”
“Likewise,” Sonnier said. “Although, if we passed on the street I might not have recognized you. You look…”
“Fat.”
“I was going to say different.”
“And I would have appreciated your politeness, but I have eyes and I’ve looked in mirrors; I’m well aware of what I’ve become.” He sighed. “It’s my own fault, of course. Allowed myself to get fat after the hip replacement. I’ve become a hell of a cook, though.”
Sonnier grinned and patted the man on the shoulder. “I’d like all of you to meet an old friend of mine,” he said, turning to his students. “Say hello to Chuck Miller.”
“The Chuck Miller?” Kim said. She glanced at the others.
“One and the same. Although please, call me Mills.” The man smiled at Kim and when he did the light from the crane highlighted the pinkish trace of a scar running down his cheek. He turned back to Sonnier. “I see Pal Tech is still propagating stories from my glory days.”
“Of course. We’re the main characters in a couple of chapters.”
Alex had only seen the name mentioned a few times, but he remembered reading that Mills was one of the Naturals that worked alongside
President Joyce at the start of the program.
“Oh, that takes me back,” Mills said. His gaze cast downward and he sort of smiled to himself. When he looked up again, his eyes were sparkling. “Kids, I could tell you some stories you wouldn’t believe about this man.”
“Easy there, big fella,” Sonnier said.
“Remember Tokyo? God, what we did there will be forever burned into my memory. Don’t worry, though. I’ll take that one to the grave.”
“Good.”
Lachlan was looking at his tablet again. “I’m sorry, sir, but what happened to Cooper? He’s been my point of contact from the beginning.”
“Lachlan, I presume.”
“Yes sir.” Lachlan offered his hand and Mills swallowed it with his own.
“Lachlan, Cooper became violently ill last week, to the point that he was quarantined at the local hospital. They’re still not sure of the cause, but we’re hopeful that it’s not Ebola. When I called President Joyce and told him the news, he suggested I send one of our younger Palkins. I had a better idea. I told him I was tired of being cooped up at home and in the office, that I needed some fresh air. So against his wishes I volunteered myself, and here I stand. Besides, I wasn’t about to send millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds across the Atlantic with some green recruit.”
“Yes sir.”
“I apologize for not contacting you. I assured Chris that I would, and of course I forgot. So, not only am I fat and decrepit, perhaps my mind is starting to go.”
“I know the feeling,” Sonnier said.
“But I did read through the file, so I am not totally in the dark.” Mills approached each of the students in turn, addressing them all by name. “I must say, the five of you look quite chipper for being stuck in a car all day. Frenchy, you on the other hand.…”
“Oh, I think we’re all a bit tired,” Sonnier said. “And hungry.”
“Point taken,” Mills said. “Lachlan, there are two hollowed-out logs within that giant wall. Can you feel them?”